Protecting wild Florida in a developer’s market: How the state plans to offset environmental impacts
A new state law aims to help developers fill environmental requirements faster, something critics say could throw the landscape out of balance. The law allows Florida developers to, for the first time, buy wetland credits outside the watershed where the development is being built. A new state law aims to help developers fill environmental requirements faster, something critics say could throw the landscape out of balance. The law allows Florida developers to, for the first time, buy wetland credits outside the watershed where the development is being built. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Catching the wave
The University of West Florida is launching a new academic program through an arrangement with the city-owned Port of Pensacola. The City Council recently approved a lease for a 15,000-sq.-ft. warehouse site that will house UWF’s new research program for Water and Vessel Engineering, also known as “WAVE.” The program will offer UWF courses and hands-on experience in the research and development of watercraft manufacturing. [Source: Florida Trend]
Commentary: Florida can be great home for indie filmmakers
Forty years ago, Florida was home to the third-largest film and television production industry in the U.S., behind only New York and California. Then-Gov. Bob Graham predicted, “By the year 2000, Florida will surpass Hollywood as a filmmaking center.” The stake to the heart for Florida’s production industry came in 2016 went the state Legislature voted to strike down a set of tax incentive initiatives that started under Graham in the 1980s. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Jabil chose North Carolina over Florida. Is that bad news for the state?
As North Carolina officials celebrated winning Jabil’s $500 million AI manufacturing center, destined to create almost 1,200 jobs, they acknowledged which state they had outflanked: Florida. Jabil is headquartered in Pinellas County. It’s one of the few Fortune 500 companies Tampa Bay claims. But in the end, the company expanded elsewhere. This isn’t the first time Florida, and Tampa Bay in particular, have competed for a major corporate project and failed. Tampa’s and St. Petersburg’s mayors launched a longshot bid to recruit Amazon’s HQ2 in 2017. The region didn’t rank on a list of 20 finalists, and the headquarters ended up in Arlington, Va. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
NHC watching 4 tropical waves. Extreme heat continues for Florida
The National Hurricane Center continues to track four tropical waves on Sunday, July 27, including two in the Caribbean. However, no cyclone formation is expected over the next seven days, according to the agency's latest advisory. Hurricane season is off to the slowest start since 2009, with the peak months – August through October – still ahead. Historically, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season arrives Aug. 15. [Source: Fort Myers News-Press]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Port Canaveral fishermen worry about increasing rocket launches, debris
Every rocket launch from Florida's Space Coast triggers hours of varying maritime-vessel security and danger zones offshore of Port Canaveral, with fishermen warned to avoid those areas. Rockets continue lifting off at an unprecedented rate. The Cape remains on track to surpass 100 annual orbital rocket launches for the first time this year.
› 'Liquid gold' draining away as Sarasota, Manatee counties lose more wetlands each year
Across much of Florida, including Manatee and Sarasota counties, the story is the same: watery places that once shimmered and surged with life have given way to rooftops, roadbeds, and retention ponds. In Manatee County, wetlands policies have been at the center of political strife for years, but 2025 may take the cake. The county once boasted wetlands protection policies that exceeded state standards for decades. But those protections were scrapped in 2023.
› ‘People over parking’: Activists push Orlando to cut spots needed for new projects
Jakob Willis said he’s never struggled to find a place to park in Orlando. But he has struggled to find affordable housing. The rising UCF junior said too much land in the city is taken up by parking lots that should be used to help people, not cars. Activists like Willis are now leading a “People Over Parking” campaign asking the city of Orlando to change its rules so developers don’t have to include so many parking spaces when they build new projects.
› How did A3 Foundation spend its county tax dollars? Miami-Dade mayor orders audit
As scrutiny grows over how a little-known charity secured about $2 million from Florida and Miami-Dade County, there’s a question that should be fairly easy to answer: How did the A3 Foundation spend its taxpayer money? After more than a week of silence from the politically connected nonprofit, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has ordered her staff to try and find an answer to that question.
More stories ...
› As DeSantis calls for property tax cuts, 11 Central Florida governments propose hikes
While state leaders seek to stoke a tax revolt, at least 11 Central Florida cities and counties are signaling they may increase the rate they levy on property owners. They cite a host of reasons, including the need to pay higher police and fire salaries, increased costs of insurance and construction materials, and the expense of unfunded mandates from state and federal governments.
› Jacksonville airport growth plans navigate tariffs, rising costs as international flights eyed
In Jacksonville, expansion at the airport starts with parking and roadwork, which is set to add 2,200 spaces to the airport. Building Concourse B has been a nearly decades-long trudge through national crises. Concourses A and C were completed in 2008, and JAA expected to construct B by 2013 or 2014, said spokesperson Michael Stewart, but everything from the 2008 recession and COVID stalled growth plans.
› New Venice flood barrier done; work on city fishing pier begins soon
Progress on repairs to high profile areas following damage from hurricanes in 2023 and 2024 continues in Venice, with the glass flood barrier atop the new seawall at Tarpon Center Drive unveiled, while supplies are arriving to fix the Venice Municipal Fishing Pier. The seawall was damaged by storm surge from Hurricane Idalia in 2023. The $3 million project raises the height of the seawall for better protection against storm surge and sea level rise.
› Will becoming a city help Brownsville and its neighbors thrive? Residents are split
Despite the lack of big box businesses in the area and a shrinking homeowner base, Some residents believe that incorporation could resolve some of the issues Brownsville and surrounding neighborhoods are experiencing because it would allow their tax dollars to go toward infrastructure that would benefit the community.